In the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a couple of skilled swordsmiths named Gan Jiang and Mo Ye.
They forged two swords for King Helu of Wu, one male sword named Gan Jiang and one female sword named Mo Ye.
The King of Chu also asked them to forge swords, which took three years. The king was furious and wanted to kill them.
Mo Ye was pregnant, and Gan Jiang told her: “If it’s a boy, tell him: ‘Look out at the Southern Mountain. There’s a pine tree growing on a stone. The sword is behind the tree.'”
Gan Jiang took the female sword to see the Chu king, who found out he didn’t bring the male sword and killed him.
When Chi, their son, grew up, he asked his mother where his father was.
She told him his father’s words and how the Chu king killed him.
Chi went out but didn’t see the Southern Mountain. He only saw a stone under a pine wood pillar in front of the house. He chopped it open and found the male sword.
He decided to avenge his father.
The Chu king dreamed of a strange man saying he would revenge and offered a thousand pieces of gold for his capture.
Chi met a swordsman who agreed to help him.
Chi cut his own neck and handed his head and the sword to the swordsman.
The swordsman took the head to see the Chu king and said he should boil it.
The head boiled for three days and nights but wouldn’t rot. It suddenly jumped out of the pot, with wide-open angry eyes.
The swordsman said the head wouldn’t rot and asked the Chu king to examine it closely. When the king approached, the swordsman killed him with the male sword and then killed himself.
The three heads boiled together and couldn’t be separated. People buried the meat in three parts and called it “The Tomb of Three Kings,” which is now in Yichun County, north of Ru.